South Korea Will Finally File a Complaint About Kim Yu-Na's Silver Medal

With World Championships of figure skating beginning on Monday, South Korean Olympic Committee has said that it will file a complaint to the International Skating Union about an alleged breach of the code of ethics during the ladies competition at the Sochi Olympics. It's a complaint the Koreans are afraid they'll be punished for.

The KOC and Korean Skating Union are asking for a thorough investigation of the judging composition and whether it was biased toward Sotnikova. And they filed the complaint knowing that it might result in retaliation. "We had to be very careful since an appeal or a complaint could strain relationships with international judges and bring disadvantages to our players in international games," a KOC official said on Friday.

The KSU and KOC's fear of retaliation and reluctance are pretty disconcerting. And it shows how difficult it is to change the current judging system. How are countries supposed to complain if their skaters scores can be held as ransom? And what does it say about the ISU and the kind of environment it has set if countries like South Korea feel they will be punished for voicing their concern?

Or whether or not this triple lutz, a jump that Sotnikova has a history of "cheating," was actually done properly and on the correct edge (the jump is supposed to start with the outside of her left foot):

All these problems and all these conspiracy theories stem from one problem: figure skating is a subjective sport that needs boundaries, transparency, the minimization of bias — and the ISU has never really figured out a way to do any of those well. It doesn't seem to want to change. This is how the ISU determines conflicts of interest currently:

The term ”family” as used in this Rule shall be understood as including all persons who, due to their relationships, may reasonably appear to be in a conflict of interest position regarding a competing Skater, ineligible person or remunerated Coach.

How does Shekhovtseva, with her marital ties to the Russian skating federation, not fall under that definition? That doesn't happen very often in other sports. For example: it'd be like if John Calipari's wife was allowed to ref Kentucky's next game in the NCAA basketball tournament ... if the next game were a national championship. That idea would be killed the minute it was even thought of.

The ideal choice here is obviously neither, but Cinquanta seems okay with "good" judges who might be biased. "It is far more important to have a good judge than a possible conflict of interest," he said.

News reports are focusing on the Germanwings pilot's possible depression, following a familiar script in the wake of mass killings. But the evidence shows violence is extremely rare among the mentally ill.